Sharing

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: April 9th, 2011

A story in the Canning Examiner Community newspaper this week caught my eye. The headlines screamed “Food slashed for rent”. The article tells the story of a pensioner that has been forced to stop eating meat and cut back on cigarettes after high private rent prices and her inability to get on the list for government housing leave her with little money to spend on groceries. Now get this … The landlord is HER SON who told her that she had to accept the increase in rent or she would be out (on the street)!

Not knowing the full story, it does beg one to ask a couple of questions:

- How can her son do this to his own mother?
- Why are cigarettes taking a priority over food?

Now read the following story that’s doing the email rounds.  It is a powerful message in our modern society. We seemed to have lost our bearings & our sense of direction. Is it not time for all of us to take back that which was (is being) lost?

Forward this story to as many as possible … Who knows, this may change somebody’s fate …

One, young, academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview. The director who did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research. He never had a year when he did not score. The director asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” The youth answered “none”. The director asked, ” Was it your father who paid for your school fees?” The youth answered, “My father passed away when I was one year old. It was my mother who paid for my school fees.” The director asked, ” Where did your mother work?” The youth answered, “My mother worked as a clothes cleaner”.

The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect. The director asked, ” Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.” The director said, “I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother’s hands and then see me tomorrow morning.”

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange,  but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to her son. The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tears fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled and that there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes every day to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother’s hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future. After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director’s office. The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes and asked, ” Can you tell me what  you did and learned yesterday in your house?” The youth answered, ” I cleaned my mother’s hands, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes.’

The Director asked, ” Please tell me your feelings.”

The youth said …
- Number 1, I know now the meaning of appreciation. Without my mother, there would not be the successful me today.
- Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only now I realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.
- Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, ” This is what I am looking for in my new  manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. Son,you are hired.”

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been over protected and habitually given whatever he or she  wanted, would develop the entitlement mentality and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent’s efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. This kind of person, may be good academically and may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel a sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat  good meals, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let him experience it. After a meal, let him wash his plates and bowls together with his brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love him in the right way. You want him to understand, no matter how rich his parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young man . The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

 

Eternity – Where Will You Be?

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: January 15th, 2011

Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become habits
Watch your habits, they become character
Watch your character, it becomes your eternity

Anon.

Bucket List

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: January 14th, 2011

Quite often we hear people talk about their bucket list – the stuff they want to do before they die.  Many of us have a bucket list in our head – some big stuff, and some not so big stuff.  They can range from the grand stuff like “climbing Mt Everest” to just “visiting grandma that you haven’t seen for 10 years” to even simpler things like “learn to ride a horse” (Now that can be a big deal for some people – especially if they’re petrified of horses!)

But how about a “Life-List”? – A list of things we want to accomplish EVERYDAY in life eg one such example could just be to identify and be thankful for something each day. I recall hearing a story of a pastor who decided to do just that – he had decided he would do just that.

One day, the pastor was robbed of all his possessions … So what did he have to be thankful for? When you’re not wealthy AND you end up being robbed of what little you have, what can you be thankful for? Well, it seems the pastor managed to be thankful that he actually he was the “rob-bee” and not the “robber”.  Interesting perspective!

So what’s on your Life-List?

How can you reduce your accounting fees?

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: January 13th, 2011

In a nutshell, 99.9% of accountants (and solicitors) charge on a time basis. Their working day is broken down into 6 minute intervals (Yes … you got that right … 6 minutes!) and time is allocated to clients whenever any work is done. So when you call your accountant, they “clock” you in and when they finish talking to you, you get “clocked out”. Then at the end of the week, a practice manager or partner will review that to check that the staff member has somehow miraculously managed to charge out the predetermined required number of hours to chargeable work ie to you, the client. The whip comes out at this point if the staff member has not managed to meet their required productivity.

Needless to say, this method of charging clients for work done can be abused (as with any other system) and can lead to you, the client, being charged for inefficiencies by the relevant staff member – which may or may not sometimes include the partner too!

This eBook Your Accountants Secrets Revealed will tell you how you can keep your accounting fees down and also give you suggestions as to what you should be looking for when you get your bill. To download your copy of the free eBook, just follow the link to TheCharteredAccountants.com

Australia’s Most Trusted People 2010

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: August 21st, 2010

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

It only takes a few caring people to change the world. At the top of this year’s most trusted list are people who strive to achieve just that. The 2010 Reader’s Digest Most Trusted People poll was published in its July 2010 edition. So, who made it into the list?

Not surprisingly – Dr Fiona Wood took out the No 1 spot again for the 6th year running. Jessica Watts, the young adventurer captured our imagination and catapulted into No 48 … ahead of ex Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who only managed No 81.

What about the professions? Ambulance officers, firefighters, nurses, pilots and doctors took out pride of place ahead of teachers and and childcare providers. Surprised to hear that plumbers rank ahead of accountants and religious leaders? And last but not least, will you be surprised that sex workers rank ahead of politicians for being trustworthy!!

The secret of business

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: July 21st, 2010

The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.

Aristotle Onassis (The Economist 1991)

Property Project – Day 2 The Men in White

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: July 20th, 2010

Well, Day 1 went pretty good. Not too many hassles.  The shed had been emptied out of all contents (and they now all sitting in a friend’s garage feeling very lonely). Whatever didn’t fit there either got thrown out or put in a corner, hopefully out of the way of the contractors.

The Men in White arrived bright and early. And by lunch time, the shed was GONE ! Good to see that they wore protective gear … One cant be too careful these days with asbestos. I know of one case where the asbestos removal went very wrong and the contractor ended up having to pay over $40,000 to fix the asbestos contamination! Yep! You read that right … over $40,000! So its best to get it right first time.

Property Project – Day 1 Goodbye Shed

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: July 19th, 2010

Its all about managing the property project. Take a deep breath and jump in -  just one step at a time and making sure each is done properly. (Actually, its never as scary as it looks … Honest!)

So Day 1 and we say Goodbye Shed … One could get sentimental about it (or not) – but its got asbestos walls and roof – not exactly the ideal material to have around the house. BTW the graffiti was painted by my daughter and her friends. They were let loose on the shed since it was being demolised.

Sub-Dividing Your Property

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: July 18th, 2010

Is the land that your house is on getting too large for you to handle? But you LOVE the area and you don’t really want to move to another house … Why not have your cake and eat it too? Instead of moving, sub-divide the land build yourself a new smaller house on a much smaller piece of land.

I’ve done just that … My house currently sits on 845 sqm of land and I HATE gardening with a passion. What better way to kill 2 birds with one stone. So I set about getting approval to sub-divide the land. That was the easy part – getting the paperwork was relatively painless (well, it is if you know what you’re doing).

Now for the REAL fun.

Rather than opt for the traditional double brick home, I’ve decided to go for the new alternative building material – Energy Lite panels to be precise. I’m told it will be a much quicker build time than with brick and with much higher energy rating.

Journey with me on my trials and tribulations with the building – and read all about the frustrations (I’ve been told that building a house is grounds for divorce!), the costs (I expect my pocket is going to suffer from this!) and hopefully the celebrations when I get to move into a brand new home.

Refugees or Just Illegal Migrants

Posted by: Patsy Lim Post date: July 9th, 2010

How any country deals with asylum seekers is a hot topic that arouses the righteous across both sides of the political fence. In the battle over border protection, our political leaders offer up quick fixes, stunts and slogans to prove that they are “right”.  This is a debate that splits a country.

On the one hand, we want to be compassionate and look after those who cannot look after themselves. On the other hand, we are perceived by many to be a soft touch. Is it fair that a group of people can land itself on a country with no papers and no money and expect to be granted permanent residency in a country whilst many others “do the right thing” and make sure that they apply for migration properly. Then when they arrive, they get a job and contribute their skills to their new country.

The boat refugees to Australia has certainly made this a hot topic for the forthcoming election.  On a personal note, I would have to question why some of these illegal boat refugees throw their paperwork overboard so that their identity cannot be proved. Do they have something to hide?  Tony Abbott’s suggestion of “no paperwork, no visa” would certainly put an end to this!

Another question – if these refugees are so desperate to leave their homeland because of persecution, why is it that when they arrive they insist that their host country must now conform to THEIR rules. As a migrant myself, my desire was to integrate into the way of life of my host country as quickly as is possible – to my mind, if I didn’t wish to integrate then I should not have migrated!